13th Feb 2010

Anchorians v Dartfordians

With Dartford kicking off things didn’t start too promising with the ball being knocked on to set the first scrum within seconds of kick off and was then converted to a penalty for the visitors which missed the posts and gave A’s the opportunity to clear the lines with a well placed kick from Anthony O’Brien which took the ball to touch.  The line out was won by Richie Kyle who knocked the ball down to Craig Whiting before he popped it to O’Brien who again kicked the ball to touch.  The visitors won the second line out and ran the ball back at the A’s line before a string of penalties were awarded against the A’s within their own 22 yard box.  Creeping ever closer the visitors opted to use the penalties to gain ground and converted the kicks to lineout’s close to the A’s score line.  However, desire to avoid another loss against Dartford spurred the defence on and despite 3 penalties in a space of 5-minutes against them Alistair Parker managed to rip the ball from attacking hands and he made quick ground before dropping the ball into the safe hands of O’Brien to clear the lines with another kick toward the halfway line being chased by Dave Hadris who put in a bone shaking tackle to force the visitor to ground and desperate defence by the visitors.  Turn over ball enabled Whiting to lift the ball from the ruck and pass it to Rob small who ran into the centre of the field before a making a high pass to Skipper Adam Davison who made a few more metres into the visitors half before being bought down.  Despite rapid support from the forwards the ball was deemed to be lost forward and a scrum was set.  The ball came out of the scrum very quickly and while Small tidied up the referee spotted and infringement with a tackle off the ball by Dartford and awarded a penalty to A’s.  A swift kick pulled A’s nearer the score zone but we lost the line out with a knock forward and the Dartford scrum enabled a long clearance kick to full back Davison deep in A’s half.  Passing the ball to Hadris the pair piled through the centre of the pitch to the half way line before being bought down with an illegal move by Dartford.  The resultant penalty was awarded to A’s which O’Brien hoofed down the field into the Dartford half for a line out which was well caught by Kyle.  A driving maul was set up and good ground was made toward the try line before the ball was lifted out by Small and passed to Ben Davison who made a strong run through the centre well supported by the keen forwards pack who could sense the points to come.  Small lifted the ball out of the ruck and passed the ball to A Davison and Wayne English before the ball was knocked on in a tackle.  Nothing seemed to be going A’s way.  Play continued with both teams eager to play with ball in hand until the status quo was breached Adam ‘George’ Webb took the ball off the top of a line out and quickly passed the ball back to A Davison who made a powerful run through the centre of the field dodging 4 tackles before finally popping to the ball to Parker and finally B Davison who ran the ball the last 10 metres and dodging high tackles to score in the right hand corner.  The try was unconverted.  Following the try two players were sin binned and play restarted from a penalty on the half way line to Dartford.  Hardly any ground was made with the kick and lead to another scrummage which was won bay Dartford but Small made an excellent tackle on the No 8 to bring him down.  Keith White picked up loose ball and made good territory before a rolling maul was set up around him and they made another 20 metres before the ball was lost forward.  Dartford used the scrum to clear their lines and kicked the ball down field. With rapid feet the visitors piled down the line and the winger picked up loose ball and placed the ball over the line to score a try and make the score even at 5-5 until the conversion was successful to make it 5-7.  Now behind A’s came back with a desire to get their nose back in front.  Just a few minutes later strong forward moves enabled a driving maul to be set up 15 meters outs and the forwards drove on making swift ground before Parker popped the ball over the line for A’s second unconverted try which bought the exciting half to an end.

The second half promised to be just as energetic as A’s kicked off and piled forward causing an unplanned kick up field straight into the arms of A Davison who chipped the ball forward and supported by his brother ran the ball deep into the visitors half before going to ground.  Parker picked up the ball and another driving maul was set up pushing the ball over the line and was put down by Parker.  However, early celebrations were quickly cooled as the referee decided that the ball was held up and decreed that a 5-metre scrum was in order.  Spurred on A’s piled into the scrum and Hadris charged out of the back rolling out of one tackles and diving through two more for a try which again was unconverted.  Now at 15-7 A’s were keen to press forward the advantage but a swift penalty to Dartford enabled them to pull back 3 points with a well placed kicked through the posts.  Hadris tried to repeat his earlier try but this time Dartford were on the ball and closed the door before he could make the line. Hadris popped the ball back in the tackle to White but again the way was blocked by a string defensive line and he was bundled into touch 8 metres from the Dartford try line.  Dartford won the lineout but under pressure immediately kicked it back out for a lineout to A’s on the 5 metre line.  Kyle took the ball off the top and a maul was set up driving forward with Paul Knight dropping over for a try which not converted bring the score to 20-10.  From the restart Dartford exerted pressure on the A’s defensive line but following a small fracas a penalty was awarded to A’s enabled O’Brien to place a kick deep into the visitors half.  The lineout was won by Kyle who lifted the ball off the top and passed to Small and O’Brien who using a dummy pass made good ground before passing to Parker who took the ball to ground.  The forwards piled in and Small lifted the ball out for quick ball to Tim Banner-Martin, O’Brien, A Davison, Small and finally White before the ball slid into touch just metres from the try line.  Dartford won the line out and ran the ball back and following another penalty against the A’s attempted to register another 3 points with a penalty just in front of the A’s posts. However, under pressure the kicker lacked the accuracy and failed to register the points leaving the score at 20-10.  From the 22 drop out A’s ran back with Skipper Davison leading the way making almost 50 metres before being bundled into touch.  Webb took the ball off the top of the line out and a fast driving maul was set up making another 20 metres before being stopped.  Small at the back was directing the traffic before lifting the ball out and passing to O’brien who dropped over the line for his first try of the match which was converted to make the score 27-10.  The Dartford coach was nearly splitting his sides with frustration at his team’s lacklustre performance and as they set for the restart they could hear him screaming at them from the touchline.  This obviously touched a nerve and they came back into the match with renewed vigour and ran a try into the corner which was unconverted making the score 27-15.  Dartford now looked completely blown and as A’s came back at them they conceded a penalty in front of the posts enabling A’s to bring the final tally to 30-15.

In an impressive show of team work A’s may have conceded a lot of penalties but they also showed the league leaders exactly what A’s grit is all about.  It was undoubtedly the best game of the season for the Anchorians and as a result the whole team were awarded Man of the Match by Head Coach Alex Browne.

Next league game Saturday 20 February against Old Olavians at home.

Report written by Clive Davison.